Apple and Samsung CEOs did speak, but solved nothing

The judge made them meet, but the deadlock remains

Shares

The latest attempt to solve the Apple vs Samsung patent dispute hasn't been a success.

The judge presiding over the trial asked the heads of both companies to meet and discuss possible solutions to the case. Apple's Tim Cook and Samsung's Kwon Oh Hyun met, but failed to reach a mutually beneficial conclusion.

"The CEOs did speak… [but] there was no resolution," Samsung counsel Kevin Johnson told US District Court Judge Lucy Koh.

Last-ditch attempt

The chat was the last throw of the dice before closing arguments begin later today. The two CEOs met in person twice ahead of the trial as part of court-mandated settlement talks, but the meetings were just as fruitless.

Judge Koh told them to meet once more as a last attempt, saying it was "time for peace".

It's not surprising Koh wanted to reach a settlement, seeing as the jury will have to sift through 700 questions relating to up to 28 devices.

The jury will also have to decide if Samsung's subsidiaries also infringed Apple's patents.

And if it decides Samsung did infringe Apple's patents, it'll have to calculate how much compensation Apple is owed, by way of some pretty complicated maths. And vice-versa, concerning Samsung's claims that Apple infringed five of its patents.

Worried judge

"I am worried we might have a seriously confused jury here," Judge Koh told both companies' legal counsels. "I have trouble understanding this, and I have spent a little more time with this than they have.